"Athletics weren't really in the cards in my family - books, not body." — Howard Lutnick

The idea that big buyside firms are going to come in and trade mano-a-mano with high-frequency trading firms shows a lack of knowledge of the business.

After Hurricane Sandy, we adopted 19 elementary schools in tough neighborhoods. We took each kid in those schools and gave the family a prepaid Visa card.

I worked during summers on the foreign exchange desk as a dollar/yen broker for Noonan, Astley & Pierce. I used to write the chairman notes about how he could improve his business. And I met Bernie Cantor through this job.

In this business, technology is life or death.